A court in Delhi on Monday accepted a closure report from Delhi Police, seeking to cancel a case filed by a wrestler accusing former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh (68) of sexual harassment when she was a minor. "Cancellation accepted," additional sessions judge Gomti Manocha said.
During an in-chamber proceeding held on 1 August 2023, the minor had told the judge who was previously holding the court that she was 'satisfied' with Delhi Police's investigation into the case and was not opposed to the closure report.
Delhi Police on 15 June 2023 filed the report seeking cancellation of the case involving the girl after her father made a startling claim midway through the probe that he had made a false complaint of sexual harassment against Singh to get back at him for perceived injustice to the girl.
The police had recommended dropping the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act case against Singh but charged him with sexual harassment and stalking in a separate case lodged by six women wrestlers.
The police had recommended the cancellation of the complaint involving the minor wrestler, saying "no corroborative evidence" was found.
The POCSO Act provides for a minimum imprisonment of three years, depending on the sections under which the case has been registered. It is also non-bailable, though Singh was never arrested.
Indeed Singh, a former BJP MP, has consistently denied the allegations against him. On 21 May 2024, a Delhi court had framed charges of sexual harassment, intimidation and outraging the modesty of women against the six-time Lok Sabha MP in a criminal case filed by female wrestlers he worked with. The court also framed the charge of criminal intimidation against co-accused and former WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar in the case.
Singh pleaded not guilty to the charges and claimed the right to trial. "Why will I plead guilty when I am not guilty?" Singh had asked additional chief metropolitan magistrate Priyanka Rajpoot.
Some of India's topmost wrestlers, including Olympians Sakshi Malik, Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat, had accused Brij Bhushan of sexually harassing women wrestlers during his tenure as WFI chief and sat at Jantar Mantar for months in 2023 demanding his arrest.
On 2 May 2024, the BJP named Brij Bhushan's son Karan Bhushan Singh as its Lok Sabha candidate from the Kaiserganj seat held by his father.
In December 2023, the results of the elections to the WFI seemed to reaffirm the fact that the apparently invincible shield that the BJP MP wore, as his close associate Sanjay Singh was elected WFI chief.
Source: ANI
